Day 57: Tailgate Bench

2026-04-04

Hello!

Look, I promise I'm basically out of photos from early March. I've been posting a lot of photos from that time, specifically in the four counties of Adams, Lancaster, Montgomery, and York.

These images are just interesting to me! I almost always go outside with a camera, and I take photos of whatever sticks out to me. That's why I don't have a central style — the world is my oyster.

But if everything worked properly for April Fools 2026, the entire website should have sent you to this:

If it didn't, pity my terrible web skills. I tried, okay?

The change has been reverted, though some links from April Fools still redirect to a rickroll; maybe I'll be able to fool future readers who haven't installed that browser extension I recommended.

As for the photo: I looked back at my GPS logs (which takes up one of the very few apps on my phone) and tried to find where I took this photo. It's on the sidewalk somewhere in York, Pennsylvania, but it's not showing up on Google Street View, and by this point, I'm too far out to go back and check in-person.

But I think this is a creative use of reusing parts. Earth Day is coming up, and I have some stories to share about that, but I'd like to remind people that "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle" is ordered that way for a reason. Reducing what you buy (and reducing the waste you create) is far more effective than trusting a recycling plant to take your plastic soda bottles.

But reusing is the creative one, and when I see people reusing parts for a different purpose, I can't help but smile. Sure, you could install a plain bench, or you could take old Ford truck parts that you don't need anymore (or that you found at the dump), give them some shine, and make a not-so-plain bench!

I tried reusing four plastic water bottles — all gallon-sized — to host small plants in my backyard garden. It didn't work, because I don't have a vertical surface sturdy enough to mount the bottles on (and despite my aspirations, I'm not the skilled crafter I'd like to be).

Walking around York, I had my camera with me, but I treat the first shot of the day as my worst, like a sacrificial shot just to warm up my insticts. This was supposed to be that sacrificial shot — no preparation, just eye-catching — but I ended up liking it enough to post it here.

Finally, I have both music recommendations and book recommendations! First: this huge album rearranges tracks from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum in the style of jazz. Buying music to download is expensive, but Bandcamp lets you listen to all the songs without restriction before you buy, and you can find Sinnohvation on YouTube and Spotify as well. I'm listening to the remix of Floaroma Town and it's beautiful — styled like a Disney orchestra.

Second: this huge book features more than half a century of legendary comics. I've owned The Comics: Since 1945 by Brian Walker for years as part of a local library sale, but I've never poured my attention into this until now. It's not only a beautiful book of art and inspiration, but it's quite an opinionated insight into a specific section of American pop culture; in the introduction, the author writes how other historians see post-WWII cartoon art as in decline, and this book serves to counter that belief. If you can pull it off the shelves at your nearest library (or email university librarians for access, if you have to), I'm sure you'll appreciate the golden treasure that is this compendium of comics.

Cheers,
David